


Bury Me (Face Down)

by eau_de_taek



Category: VIXX
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, M/M, Minor Kim Wonshik | Ravi/Lee Hongbin, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-20 14:01:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17623748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eau_de_taek/pseuds/eau_de_taek
Summary: Taekwoon didn't want to become involved in a plot to take down a pack of feral wolves as well as put a stop to a corrupt government scheme with his new mysterious neighbor, but somehow that's how things ended up.





	1. Chapter 1

_The body of another young female omega was found just on the outskirts of Seoul, making this the fourth victim found in what appears to be a chain of mysterious homicides in the downtown area. Authorities released a statement stating that her body was found in an eerily similar condition as the former three victims, two male and another female omega, all which passed away due to organ failure caused by severe blunt force trauma. All victims were found with multiple broken bones as well as many penetrating wounds all over their bodies. The authorities speculate that such injuries are consistent with those of a wild animal attack; although neither the police nor the local animal control center have received any reports of wild animal sightings, which are rare to almost nonexistent in the city._

_The police want to reassure everyone that they are doing everything they can to solve these horrifying cases, and want to reiterate that it is of most importance that everyone stay on high alert for any suspicious activity in the area, whether from a wild animal or from otherwise dubious human activity. The chief security officer in Seoul advices everyone to stay indoors after dark and to travel in groups of two or three, as—_

Taekwoon exited the video and texted back a quick scared emoji as response to the video link Jaehwan had shared on the groupchat. Looking up from his phone, he made to stand and get off the bus, briefcase in hand and already looking forward to going home from work later that day. As it was, people had been talking about these murder cases for a whole two weeks non-stop since it made the main news headline 24/7. All Taekwoon really knew was that someone, or some animal (as the news liked to suggest), was going around targeting omegas and beating them to death. Jaehwan had showed him pictures of the victims before and Taekwoon almost lost his lunch, but not before giving him an earful about showing such graphic content during lunchtime.

As he got off the bus, Taekwoon was all but swept up by the hundreds of people rushing in the street, the hundreds of scents in the crowd attacking his senses as they hung concentrated in the humid summer air. He waited for the pedestrian traffic signal to change alongside the throngs of people impatient to get to work on time, all dressed in similar suits and talking on the phone as they crossed the busy and already heavily trafficked road. As he neared the company building, the light perspiration caused by the high summer sun began to make his shirt rub uncomfortably against his skin, and Taekwoon knew today would be unbearably hot again.

Walking through the front entrance of the building, Taekwoon nodded in greeting at the lady at the front desk, briefly flashing his work ID as he made for the elevators like he did every morning. Inside, two women were talking animatedly about something on their phones and, after an accidental peek at their phone screens due to his unnecessarily tall height, Taekwoon realized they were talking about the same video Jaehwan sent him that morning.

“I honestly don’t think a wild animal killed all those people. I mean, a wild animal? In Seoul?” One of the women, an omega _—_ Taekwoon guessed _—_ asked skeptically, pushing back her long dark hair behind her ear as she did.

“You really think a person did it, then? Seems unlikely. Did you even see the pictures of the bodies?” the other woman exclaimed with a frown on her heavily make-uped face. “I don’t think a person is capable of doing something like that. They looked like they were mauled by a bear or something.” 

Taekwoon stood by, watching the numbers above the elevator doors rise before stepping out as they opened on his floor. The empty feeling in his stomach pushed him to get to the office as quickly as possible so he could fix himself a cup of the cheap and mostly tasteless coffee the office eating area had to offer. Regardless of how offensive and almost criminal the drink was to one coffee addict and fanatic Jung Taekwoon, it beat having to wait until lunchtime to get something of substance into him. He’d really gotten into a bad habit of skipping breakfast far too often and it was starting to take a toll on the standards of quality caffeine he’d sink to.

Walking to his cubicle, cup of black steaming bean water in hand, Taekwoon counted exactly four seconds before he was attacked by a rogue rolling chair navigated by none other than his coworker, and best friend (he supposed), Jaehwan.

“Dude, I really thought that all those people turning up dead was a one off thing, but holy shit there’s a serial killer we are ALL going to _die_.”

Sighing heavily and officially saying goodbye to a quiet morning at work, Taekwoon turned around in his chair to face Jaehwan with the most uninterested and dry look he could manage.

“I’m _serious_!” Jaehwan exclaimed, scooting his chair closer to his. “Someone or something is going around the very city we live in and picking up random omegas to,” Jaehwan paused and made a hissing choking sound as he drew a line across his neck with his thumb before dramatically hanging his head.

If he was really being honest with himself, Taekwoon didn’t know what to think of the murders. He read an article or two regarding theories of who the culprit was and why they were targeting omegas. Taekwoon didn’t usually like to randomly speculate or spread rumors, but some of those theories actually made a lot of sense to him. It was pretty obvious by now that whoever it was killing all those people exclusively targeted omegas. Yet for some reason, the police refused to acknowledge this blatant connection and was treating it as a series of coincidental murders. Taekwoon wasn't one to throw harsh accusations around but almost everyone could tell some serious discrimination against omegas was at play. Some people went as far as hypothesizing that the perpetrator had not been caught simply because he was only attacking omegas; therefore the police wasn’t prioritizing the case.

Furthermore, how come no scent or trace had been found on the victim’s bodies? If it was a wolf, and it _had_ to be unless it really was a wild animal, some sort of scent had to have been left behind if the attacker had any physical contact with the victims. Granted, the bodies were found in open areas and thus were vulnerable to the elements, but Taekwoon still found it hard to believe the police really had nothing to go off of. Even if it was a wild animal attack, there was bound to be some hair or some particle with DNA that the police could test on and use as evidence. 

Jaehwan sat up straight in his chair, furrowing his eyebrows as a look of concern flashed across his face. “You go home alone after work, you could be attacked while—” 

“Not likely,” Taekwoon snorted as he turned back around in his chair to fire up his computer. Jaehwan let out a huge exasperated sigh at Taekwoon’s indifferent attitude to what was quickly becoming one of Seoul’s, heck, one of South Korea’s biggest serial murders in history. “I’m just saying you should be careful,” the since-we’re-both-omegas went unsaid. “Remember when you were attacked that one time outside of your apartment by those gangsters?”

Taekwoon wouldn’t necessarily call a group of high schoolers trying to convince him to buy them alcohol and cigarettes an _attack_ , even though they were oddly intimidating betas and ridiculously tall for their age. And if his voice trembled a bit when he threatened to call the cops on them, well, Jaehwan didn’t need to know that.

“It wasn’t even an attack,” Taekwoon mumbled under his breath even as he tucked his chin in to his chest ever so slightly. “Even so,” Jaehwan emphasized with a sigh, “I always go home with Wonsik anyways so—”

“I know we’re all friends here, but if you guys keep slacking on the job _—_ as assistant supervisor _—_ I’m going to have to lay down the law. It’s starting to look like I favorite you guys, which I do, but we don’t want anyone to know that now, do we?” And speak of the devil, Taekwoon thought, as Wonsik leaned down next to Jaehwan’s ear and possibly triggered a heart attack from him.

“Jesus, make some noise when you walk in,” all but shrieked Jaehwan, a hand flying to his heart as if he really was under threat of having a stroke. Wonsik laughed with a roll of his eyes and shot Taekwoon a look that screamed, _can you believe this guy?_ Taekwoon couldn’t help his own returning smile as he gently shook his head.

With one last chuckle, Wonsik shot them a semi-serious look as he said, “Alright you guys, I’m serious. If you two get fired I’ll be stuck here with no one to stop me from ripping off my own eyebrows in boredom, so get some shit done.” The alpha pointed another stern finger at them before turning around and heading to the higher ups’ offices, but not before shooting a sly wink their way over his shoulder. 

While Jaehwan shoved two fingers in his mouth and pretended to throw up, Taekwoon started sifting through the endless files of paperwork ahead of him. “C’mon, the fate of Wonsik’s eyebrows lies in our hands.”

 

—

 

A huge gasp escaped through Taekwoon’s lips as he cracked his neck so hard he feared he almost snapped his own neck in half. Rolling his head in small circles, Taekwoon leisurely made his way home from the bus stop, undoing the first few buttons of his shirt and contemplating stopping by the corner store for some ramen. Jaehwan, Wonsik, and Taekwoon had all shared quite a big meal together in the small restaurant across the street from the company for a late dinner, yet Taekwoon found himself with the telltale signs of impending hunger slowly surfacing up from the bottomless pit he called a stomach.

Deciding he definitely would be very hungry _very_ soon and a midnight snack never hurt anyone anyway, or so he told himself, Taekwoon made a turn to stop by the street corner convenience store. A little bell went off as Taekwoon pushed open the door at the same time as the monotone voice of the male cashier mumbled a greeting his way. Quietly making his way to the back of the store, Taekwoon scanned the shelves for the mildly spicy chicken ramen, grabbing two of them, and only hesitating slightly before grabbing some chips as well.

As he made his way to the front with his goods, Taekwoon heard the cashier talking obnoxiously loud into his phone. “I’m telling you, there’s no way I’m staying for another night shift after tonight,” the cashier complained with a determined look set on his face, “I won’t be the next body found on the news.”

The cashier, Minhyuk, as it read on his _‘Hello, My Name is’_ name tag, barely glanced his way and continued his conversation on the phone as Taekwoon awkwardly set his stuff on the counter and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. Taekwoon was pretty sure cashiers were supposed to be a lot friendlier to customers and definitely not be on their phones during the job, but he was tired and hungry and guessed he couldn’t exactly blame the guy. He wouldn’t want the night shift either.

“That will be ₩5.300,” Minhyuk mumbled, handing Taekwoon a plastic bag with his purchases. Taekwoon gave him the exact change as quickly as possible and hurried out the door, the sound of the bell ringing behind him as he managed to faintly catch the guy say, “Whoever killed them can’t possibly be a wolf.”

Turning the street corner and heading for his apartment building, Taekwoon couldn’t believe people were literally working themselves into a panic over the assumed serial killer on the loose. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t afraid of someone committing all those horrible crimes, he was completely enraged at whoever it was thinking they could go around taking people’s lives like they were nothing. Taekwoon just failed to see what good it would do to drop everything and live in fear until the guy was caught. Besides, it was too nice a summer night and Taekwoon was a three minute walk away from a nice and comfy couch with some ramen to watch late night television with. No serial killer was going to ruin his night.

As he made his way down the street, Taekwoon couldn’t help the sudden chill that passed through him. The street lights that suddenly wanted to start flickering like in some B-horror movie definitely didn’t help calm his sudden nerves. An unnatural stillness settled in the warm night air and Taekwoon told himself again and again that the entrance to the apartment was _literally_ a minute away and he was just psyching himself out, but as he turned his head and looked to his left side facing an alleyway, Taekwoon felt his heart literally drop to his stomach.  

There, just a few yards from where he stood, a woman was struggling and thrashing against a tall hooded man as he roughly crushed her head repeatedly against the side of the building with a single hand on her face. His palm was so big, Taekwoon could make out in the dark how it covered half her face, including her mouth, stopping any cries for help she made. Taekwoon’s blood rushed in his ears and his pulse was loud enough to be deafening as he stood frozen on the sidewalk, unable to believe the sight before him. It couldn’t possibly be what he was thinking. He thought back to the morning news video and all other reports he’d read on the murder cases, of how the victims’ bones had all been broken and their faces deformed to the point of being unrecognizable.

All noise seemed to rush back to him as the woman let out a blood curdling shriek when the man shoved her against the wall one last time _—_ her body struggling weakly as the man held her up with a forearm pressed against her chest _—_ and leaned down to sink his teeth into her neck, triggering Taekwoon into action. He didn’t think twice about what he was doing because he was pretty sure if he stopped for even a fraction of a second, he would realize how stupid he was and how he just numbered his last minutes on earth.

“Stop! Let her go! Stop!”

Now, Taekwoon wasn’t suicidal or anything and he was pretty sure his fight or flight response was doing the exact opposite of what it was supposed to, but he couldn’t stand by and let this woman possibly become the fifth victim he would read about tomorrow morning on the news. The man stopped his advances on the woman at Taekwoon’s cry and stood eerily still over her now unresponsive body. Taekwoon’s hands shook so bad, it was by some miracle that he managed to pull his phone out and emergency dial the cops without dropping it. The man slowly backed away from the woman, her body dropping limply onto the ground, and seemed to be turning around to face him.

_“112, what’s your emergency?”_

Before Taekwoon could so much as open his mouth to respond, the huge hooded figure suddenly launched himself in Taekwoon’s direction and ran towards him at full speed. There was no time to think of anything at all as Taekwoon dropped everything except his phone and ran as fast as he ever had in his life for the entrance doors to his apartment building. Everything was a blur as adrenaline pumped through his veins and forced him into action. The man’s loud and heavy footsteps drew closer, ripping a terrified gasp from Taekwoon as he struggled to push in the combination to unlock the door.

 _“Hello? Excuse me, is there an emergency?”_  

A pained shout was ripped from Taekwoon’s lips as sharp claws suddenly sank into his left shoulder, phone dropping to the ground with a clank. He forcefully twisted around in hopes of escaping from the man’s hold, one hand gripped tightly around the door handle to keep the door from shutting and locking again. The man kept viciously yanking him from the entrance with horrifying strength, digging his claws in deeper, and Taekwoon knew his only chance at making it out alive would be to shift and somehow get out of his bruising grip.

“Help! Help!” Taekwoon desperately shouted out as the man managed to drag him away from door, his body flailing and his fists beating wildly at whatever body part he could reach. A giant hand came up to muffle his screams as he continued to thrash violently in the man’s grasp. He could feel warm blood flow from his wound as his shoulder ached with every flail of his arms. As the man’s other arm caged around his waist, Taekwoon forced his nails to shift into claws and brought both hands to scratch at the man’s face. A loud, enraged howl was all the warning he got as he was suddenly dropped to the ground. Taekwoon’s fingernails were covered in blood but he didn’t stop to think about it as he bolted for the inside of the building, barely managing to shut the door when the man threw himself full force at him.

The door trembled at the impact as Taekwoon ran for the elevator, frantically pressing down on the button—smearing it with blood—and thanking any and all deities when it opened right away. Once inside, Taekwoon pressed the button to close the doors so hard he almost broke his thumb. Sweat and blood poured down his back as the frantic sounds of the man attempting to kick and punch the doors down reverberated down the empty lobby. The elevator doors finally began closing when the alarming sound of the door’s hinges beginning to break struck a greater terror in Taekwoon. There was just no way a man could break down the metal doors like that. Please, he thought, renewed fear making him repeatedly press down on the elevator door button faster and he looked up just in time to see the man force open the entrance doors with an earth shattering crash.

The most unearthly sound Taekwoon had ever heard left the man’s lips before he rushed towards him. Feeling his knees buckle, Taekwoon let out a desperate sob, rapidly moving way from the door, pleading like a mantra in his head that he just couldn’t die tonight. Just as the man reached the elevator, the doors slid close, but not before Taekwoon caught a good look at his partly hooded face. Multiple scars and newly bleeding wounds ran across the man’s disfigured face, the harsh elevator lights casting gruesome shadows over him which intensified his hideously damaged skin. His mouth hung open with unnaturally long and sharp teeth, his eyes completely wild and glazed over with blood-lust.

Taekwoon backed away from the doors until his back hit the wall with a thump, his shoulder vaguely throbbing in pain. The man’s angry banging faded as the elevator rose up. He closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head before taking in his surroundings. He stared at his own terrified eyes reflected on the metal doors, sweat matting his hair to his forehead, his hands covered in blood as they gripped the wall railing. He was sure he was losing his mind as he imagined the man’s face again in his head. The completely feral look in the man’s eyes… but his eyes, Taekwoon was sure his irises had been completely red.

Taekwoon’s knees finally gave out underneath him and he landed heavily on the elevator floor.

Whoever that was couldn’t possibly be a wolf.

 

—

 

“Just to clarify, you’re saying it was a _man_ who battered the victim and crushed her skull in with his bare hands,” police Officer Park looked down at the statement Taekwoon made when he was brought in to the police station earlier. “Sorry, correction, with his _single_ bare hand?” 

Taking a deep breath, Taekwoon loosened his grip on the cool water bottle in his now clean hands as he reaffirmed for what must have been the seventh time since he got to there he events he experienced less than an hour ago.

Officer Park, a slightly lanky beta with elfish ears, bit his lip as he reread the statement with a skeptical frown. “And this man was also the one who attacked you and single handedly broke down the metal doors at the apartment complex you reside in, yes?” Slowly starting to lose his patience, Taekwoon wasn’t sure Officer Park was qualified to be doing this job anymore. He could tell he didn’t quite believe him for whatever reason despite the very real pounding claw marks still left untreated on his left shoulder. It was already past 12:30 in the morning and his brain remained a scrambled mess from the night’s events, events he still couldn’t completely wrap his head around. His hands still refused to stop shaking.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m sure of everything. I know what I saw,” Taekwoon’s grip on the bottle tightened again as he rushed out the words, “it’s what _happened_.”

“And you say you didn’t catch the guy’s scent? Couldn’t tell if he was an alpha or not?”

Frowning, Taekwoon shook his head. Although he knew stereo-typically only alphas were as strong as the man had been, and despite how close he came into physical contact with him, no distinct scent or trace stuck out to him from his memory. He hadn’t been able to focus on anything as he desperately tried to make it out alive. However, Taekwoon felt deeply disturbed once he registered that no scent _at all_ had rubbed off on his clothes or skin either. 

Slowly nodding his head in a way that said he wasn’t entirely convinced, Officer Park skimmed through Taekwoon’s statement one last time before putting it in a file. “Alright,” Officer Park sighed loudly before lightly slapping both hands on the desk, “I’ll make sure to file this in while we wait for the investigation unit to finish securing the crime scene.” He made to stand and grabbed several more files off the table to take with him. “You’ll have to stay here until everything is settled, which shouldn’t take more than an hour or two,” Officer Park informed him with a small grimace.

It took everything in Taekwoon not to groan out loud and slam his face against the wooden table.

Maybe deciding to take pity on Taekwoon’s obviously distressed state and finally realizing Taekwoon was—very much in fact—injured, Officer Park pursed his lips before saying, “Tell you what, the victim is being treated in the local hospital right now and it seems like you could use a check up yourself. I can have an officer escort you there if you want.” Despite Taekwoon’s mind screaming to go home and sleep through the next day or two, Taekwoon wasn’t sure he was ready to go back to his apartment just yet—he didn’t particularly want to be alone right now either.

“I already called a friend to come pick me up. We’ll make a stop at the hospital.”

Officer Park nodded, plucking a business card from his table and handing it to him. “If you ever need anything or feel threatened whatsoever, give me a call,” fat chance, Taekwoon thought, as Officer Park smiled sympathetically at him, “it’s Chanyeol, by the way. I’ll keep you updated on the case, yeah?”

Reaching for the card and thankful when he managed not to drop it, Taekwoon nodded, not quite having the energy to attempt even a weak smile at Chanyeol. Not two minutes after the cop exited the office did Jaehwan frantically stumbled through the door, his face pale and immediately sagging in relief as Taekwoon stood to greet him.

“Oh my God, Taekwoon,” the omega sighed heavily as he rushed to crush him against his chest, “I didn’t know what to think when you called me. God, I’m so glad you’re alright.” The trembling in his voice threatening tears caused Taekwoon’s own throat to constrict a bit, his arms tightening around Jaehwans waist in an embrace he would rarely otherwise return.

However, he couldn’t stop an agonized gasp as Jaehwan pressed down a bit too hard on his shoulder. Confused, Jaehwan examined him closely and let out his own horrified gasp at Taekwoon’s ripped and bloodied shirt. “Oh my God, Taekwoon! Why didn’t you tell me? What the hell happened?”

After a brief interrogation, in which Taekwoon spilled everything out in record time without thinking twice about it as well as repeated multiple times that no, he wasn’t dying or anything, he was just a bit frightened—to which Jaehwan protested until Taekwoon suggested visiting the hospital real quick before going home—they were in Jaehwan’s car and on their way to the nearest hospital, pulling up to the ER. 

Minutes later, Taekwoon sat in a small hospital bed in a room containing at least eight others divided by thick baby blue curtains. That heavy hospital smell of sterilizers and disinfectants triggered a small headache and Taekwoon regretted not having gone home with Jaehwan instead of coming here. A nurse cleaned and stitched the wounds on his shoulder before bandaging them as Jaehwan stood watching nervously by the curtain’s opening. The nurse informed Taekwoon he wouldn’t be able to move his shoulder around too vigorously in case he accidentally ripped open the stitches. She offered to give him some sleeping pills or other medications to calm him down since his pulse was still too erratic but Taekwoon quickly declined, reassuring her he would rest at home despite Jaehwan’s whine in protest. She nodded quickly before bidding them goodnight and saying he could be discharged at anytime.

Taekwoon could tell Jaehwan wasn’t totally convinced that he was alright and looked a second away from chasing after the nurse to force her to give him something, so Taekwoon quietly asked him if he could please get him a coffee from the cafeteria. Torn between being happy with something to do and concerned at leaving him alone, Jaehwan reluctantly agreed, ordering him to not go anywhere until he got back. Quite frankly, Taekwoon doubted he could stomach anything, even coffee, right now but he knew Jaehwan was restless to assist him in some way. Obviously, Jaehwan being there for him was more than enough for Taekwoon, the familiar scent of the omega enough to calm him down a bit, but he understood his friend’s concern and need to take care of him. He swallowed down the lump of affection and gratitude suddenly rising in his throat towards his friend, he doubted many other people would have come to his aid at such hours of the night.

Falling back on the mattress with a sigh, only to hold back a groan at the sudden pressure on his injury, Taekwoon closed his eyes and listened to the various noises going on in the makeshift rooms around him. As he heard machines beeping and people walking in and out, Taekwoon allowed himself to reflect back on everything that occurred tonight. No matter how much he thought about it, there was no way he had hallucinated the man’s face. It was a face he never would’ve imagined before had he not seen it. Yet the thought of his burning red eyes staring right into Taekwoon’s soul made him second guess himself all over again. He didn’t know of a single wolf whose eyes turned such a crimson red color before, if the guy was even a wolf at all.

Wolves’ eyes sometimes changed color when experiencing intense emotions, such as anger or even lust, but the colors mostly ranged from a slightly more heightened version of the wolf’s natural eye color to a bright golden hue for those with supposedly superior pedigree (whatever the hell that meant).

Taekwoon refrained from telling the police or even Jaehwan about the eyes. He still had no idea how that was even possible or if the cops would have even believed him. Besides, the guy had leaned in to bite at the woman’s neck, which—if the guy _was_ a wolf—meant he had tried to claim her without consent, which didn’t make much sense if his plan was to kill her. The only other option was that he was some sort of daemon. Taekwoon had heard about daemons before, people who drank blood to survive and could even perform a bit of magic. However, they were greatly limited in number and mostly resided in the west. The chances of encountering one in Korea were slim, and even so there were strict regulations prohibiting daemons from attacking and/or taking blood from unwilling partners. Taekwoon seriously doubted the guy was a daemon; although there was no other way to explain why the guy had no scent.

The sudden commotion of another patient being brought in for emergency care broke Taekwoon from his thoughts and he moved to sit up in bed. He listened as nurses yelled for bandages and different types of medicines and antiseptics to treat the patient with, and Taekwoon decided he should leave to let someone in an actual emergency take his spot. The nurses were all rushing to the back of the room so Taekwoon tried to make his way to the door as quietly and quickly as possible. A few of the other beds were occupied by sleeping patients, and as he neared the front he sneaked a glance at the patient two beds away from were he’d laid and there, between the cracked curtains, he could see the swollen and bruised face of the woman who’d been attacked right in front of his eyes just a few hours ago.

But she wasn’t alone.

Standing over her unconscious state was a tall man, his broad shoulders draped in a black jacket and short blonde hair adorning the back of his head. He definitely was not dressed like a nurse yet he was holding a syringe next to her IV stand, seconds away from injecting God knew what into her. Red alert alarms went off in his head and Taekwoon thought back to the man he saw earlier. Was it possible the attacker was back to finish the job? Was he so arrogant and pompous as to sneak into a hospital, with multiple security cameras no doubt, and think he could get away with killing this woman?

Fixing his stance to run at a second’s notice, Taekwoon began calling out towards the man but, as if seeming to sense him, the blonde made a mad dash out of the room. Taekwoon’s feet chased after him as if on their own accord, but before he could get very far Jaehwan materialized out of nowhere and bumped right into him. 

“What are you doing?” Jaehwan asked, peeking in through the curtains and staring at the woman laying in the bed. “Nothing, I—,” Taekwoon stuttered, looking past Jaehwan’s shoulder and out into the hall, where only nurses running to and fro could be seen.

Tall, blonde, broad shouldered. No scent that Taekwoon picked up right away. Mentally stomping his foot, Taekwoon resigned to the fact he’d lost the guy.

“You should stay the night at my place,” Jaehwan interrupted his thoughts, one hand coming up to hold him by the forearm. Taekwoon mumbled a thanks as he handed him a warm cup of coffee and allowed himself to be dragged out into the parking lot. As they neared the car, Taekwoon thought back to the man, and couldn’t help feeling like he was being watched.

 

—

 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go back home so soon,” Wonsik declared, pushing his food around with his fork. “We seriously don’t mind if you crash at ours for as long as you need to, right?” he nudged Jaehwan with his elbow and the omega immediately nodded vigorously in response.   

Although it’d only been two days, Taekwoon already felt like he was imposing on them and their privacy. Jaehwan and Wonsik weren’t dating or anything, even though an omega and an alpha being roommates was almost unheard of, and they lived in an apartment big enough for all three of them. Taekwoon knew they really would not complain to him crashing over for another day or two, but he missed his privacy and doubted whoever that man was would attack so soon and at the same place again.

“It’s really fine,” Taekwoon reassured them over a big mouthful of rice, “thanks for offering but I miss my bed.” Sighing, Jaehwan mixed around his stew anxiously. “I could sleep over if you want, it would only be for tonight anyway and—”

The TV’s volume at the front increased noticeable as a waiter turned it up to the 9 o’clock evening news. Everyone in the restaurant quieted down as their attention focused on the screen. As expected, they were covering the attack of the young woman on the news again, as it was all they did recently.  

“There’s bound to be a lot of reporters outside your apartment,” Wonsik commented, eyes fixed on the reporter standing in front of the newly repaired entrance of Taekwoon’s apartment. Behind her, the camera was able to catch the multiple police tapes sectioning off the alleyway where Jihyo’s body, as Taekwoon had later found out was her name, had been found.

“That means there will be more security so it’ll be perfectly safe for me to go back,” Taekwoon added and smirked when both Jaehwan and Wonsik were forced to nod in agreement.

“I don’t know about this,” Jaehwan whispered, suddenly leaning in against the table and staring at Taekwoon right in the eye. “Remember what you told me on the phone when you called from the police station?” At this, Wonsik turned his full attention right back to them. “What do you mean? What did you tell him?” Jaehwan turned to shush him as Wonsik’s voice rose with each question. Wonsik ignored him as he stared at Taekwoon as well.

He frantically tried to remember what he could have possibly told Jaehwan that night. His memories had become a bit fuzzy around the edges and try as he might, his brain failed to recall much of what he’s said during that call. It had been right after he was taken in to the police station and he was sure he could remember having at least two separate panic attacks in between calling Jaehwan. The only thing he would never forget was the man’s face. Taekwoon could draw him from memory alone if he wasn’t so shit at it. 

“Um,” Taekwoon thought for a second before realizing what Jaehwan could possibly be talking about, “oh, _that_.”

“Oh, what?” Wonsik asked loudly as he leaned over the table as well, earning a smack to the back of the head from Jaehwan. “The man who attacked Taekwoon and the girl,” Jaehwan started, “Taewoon told me that night when I went to pick him up that his eyes had been _red_.”

Wonsik furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head. “Like, bloodshot red?”

“No,” Taekwoon finally spoke up, sighing as he dropped his spoon on the table, suddenly not so hungry anymore. “Tell him hyung,” Jaehwan insisted, “you told me his eyes had been red, like how Wonsik’s eyes get a bit golden before and after he shifts.”

“Like, _red_ red?” Wonsik spluttered. “That’s not possible,” he shook his head as if clearing his mind, “not a single wolf can do that, that’s not even a thing outside, like, movies and stuff.”

“I swear I saw it,” Taekwoon argued, leaning in over the table until all three of their heads were centimeters away from touching. “I thought about it a lot since then, and I know I didn’t imagine it,” his words spewed out of him in a rushed whisper, “his irises were almost _glowing_. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The air hung tensely around them and Wonsik’s audible swallow was multiplied by a hundred in his ears. Taekwoon could practically see the gears churning in his brain as Wonsik pursed his lips and stared out the window and into the dark street. “Wonsik?” Taekwoon whispered and Jaehwan immediately sat up in realization. “You know something” Jaehwan proclaimed, his voice pitching higher as he turned to stare incredulously at the side of Wonsik’s face.

Wonsik’s jaw dropped at the accusation and his eyes widened in shock. Taekwoon startled to realize that Wonsik _did_ know something. He only ever pulled that supposedly surprised face when he lied or tried to hide something from them, but he should know better than to try to seriously pull that off with Jaehwan—he could see through them as if they were transparent.

Just as Jaehwan began firing up his phone rang, startling Taekwoon a bit. Huffing, Jaehwan looked at his phone screen and ughed in annoyance before hurrying to gather his jacket. “It’s my brother,” he explained after picking up with a pout, “he needs me to go babysit or something.” Dropping enough bills to cover all three of their meals, he stood and turned to glare at Wonsik. “This conversation isn’t over,” he said, bidding a quick farewell to Taekwoon before exiting the restaurant.

Taekwoon stared expectantly at the alpha sitting in front of him, who looked up at him with guilty puppy eyes. All it took was one raised eyebrow from him for Wonsik to crack, as Taekwoon knew he would.

“Alright, I’ll spill,” Wonsik finally gave in, raising both hands in surrender. Taekwoon had no idea what Wonsik even _had_ to spill, but somehow his gut feeling said whatever it was couldn’t possibly good.

“I’ll drive you home, yeah?” Wonsik stated rather than asked and stood, not waiting for a response from him.  Taekwoon followed him as Wonsik paid at the front and then both made their way across to the company building’s parking lot, were Wonsik’s car was still parked. As soon as they were in the car, Taekwoon turned in his seat to face him, and asked, “What is it that you know?”

Letting out a mix between a sigh and a grunt, Wonsik made to pull out of the parking lot and into the road. “I don’t even know much, to be honest,” he started, knuckles turning pale from his tightening grip on the steering wheel. “Well, you know my dad just recently became the city mayor, and well, pretty much everything gets back to him, right?” Taekwoon studied the nervous tick in his eyes as he obviously tried beating around the bush with whatever he had to tell him. “Right,” he opted to respond although that was clearly a rhetorical question. 

“Well, a few weeks ago while I was visiting my family, I overheard my dad talking with someone in his office about a feral pack being found just on the outskirts of the city.” Wonsik turned to face him as he said this, worry and guilt appearing on his face again.

Surprised, Taekwoon leaned back in his seat at this. Sure, some wolves tended to prefer nature over the city more and would maybe spend a few days or even weeks, if they could afford it, camping out in the mountains to let their wolves be free. Taekwoon, Jaehwan, and Wonsik did that a couple of times a year, packing minimum possessions and taking off into the mountains to goof around in their wolf forms for a bit. However, he’d never heard of a wolf, nevermind a whole pack, completely abandoning civilization and living out in the mountains. Not even in the countryside had he heard of anything like that. 

“A whole pack? Just,” Taekwoon paused and tried to articulate with his hands how dumbfounded he was, “living as wolves?”

Wonsik nodded, stopping at the red light and turning to face Taekwoon completely. “It’s not just that, they” he stopped as he tried to get the right words out, “they—it’s like they were a little cult from the 1800s or something. They barely wore any clothes and spent most of their time in their wolf form. They had a whole hierarchy thing going on with a head alpha who had claimed pretty much every omega there.” Everything poured out of Wonsik in one breath and Taekwoon stared mortified at what he heard.

“Every omega wh—how many members did he have?” Taekwoon asked, completely stunned. “I’m not exactly sure but it was enough to concern the government officials,” Wonsik admitted, jumping a bit in his seat when a driver honked at them from behind. “And that’s not even what originally concerned the authorities,” he added as he got the car moving again. 

Taekwoon wasn’t even surprised at this. Of course the government wouldn’t care much about omegas being mistreated, even with all the laws passed to supposedly protect them. However, he remained quiet, waiting for Wonsik to elaborate. “It looked like the alpha was—I don’t even know how you would explain it—raising a bunch of other alphas to,” he stopped, beating his palms against the wheel, ”like, be some sort of super alphas with super strength by forcing them into their wolf form 24/7.”

That made absolutely zero sense to Taekwoon. “What? How would that even give them super strength or whatever?”

Wonsik turned to give him the stink eye. “Think about it. You know how, especially after a long shift, your energy is renewed and boosted and you can ride on that high for weeks after?” And of course just as Wonsik said it Taekwoon realized he had a point. They were wolves, of course shifting always empowered them more than anything else ever would. Even after one night in his wolf form, Taekwoon felt like he could take on any alpha—which, super strength or not, he could _never_. But being in his wolf form all the time… it was hard to imagine. Most people couldn’t even remember much of what they did in their wolf forms after shifting for too long.

Completely lost in his thoughts, Taekwoon failed to realize they had arrived at his apartment already. Then he remembered. “Ok, but how does this have anything to do with—”

“Because the alpha wolves the leader was raising,” Wonsik interrupted, refusing to meet his gaze. “Their eyes were red too.”


	2. Chapter 2

Closing his eyes, Taekwoon let his head fall back with a thump against the wall as he rode the elevator up to his floor. While just a few minutes ago his thoughts had ran a thousand miles an hour, right now, Taekwoon didn’t know what to think at all. There was only so much he could ponder over this before reaching pretty much the same conclusions.

  * __The authorities and the mayor had known about the potential threat of the feral pack and ignored it.__


  * _One, or perhaps multiple, of those feral alphas the leader raised in their wolf form were probably responsible for the deaths of all those omegas._


  * _The cops and the mayor refused to acknowledge they knew who the attacker was all this time so as to avoid the major backlash it was bound to get once it got out._


  * _More omegas would probably turn up dead._



A pounding headache slowly crept up against his temples and he sighed, completely lost with what to do with this information. It was obvious not all police officers and investigators knew what they were dealing with, so the government might not even be actively pursuing the case. Or perhaps only a few select knew and were trying to wrap it up as discreetly as possible; although Taekwoon seriously questioned the effectiveness of that approach.

And then there was the question of Wonsik’s dad. He was a good alpha, Taekwoon personally knew how caring and responsible he was after his many years of friendship with Wonsik. However, he couldn’t explain why he would have let things get this far and this wrong. Ok, so he messed up and maybe not stopped the problem at the root when he knew of the feral pack living in the mountains, with multiple omegas probably being brainwashed and mistreated, no less. But when the problem escalated and people began coming up dead, why had he not come out and admitted they were dealing with a group of possibly wildly dangerous alphas?

The answer was pretty clear to Taekwoon.

If he admitted he had known, people would question him until the truth eventually came out that nothing had been done to stop it. Things were already unstable what with the whole omega protests for equal rights that pretty much became regular strikes in the downtown area, and Wonsik’s dad was still too new to the office to not receive the brunt of the backlash. People would kick him out of office faster then it would take for him to explain himself. In the end, it was always about dumb politics and saving face when people were literally being killed on the regular.

Stepping out of the elevator, the only thing he focused on was getting home and taking the longest shower ever. But of course, as soon as he reached his front door, Taekwoon came to an abrupt stop right on his tracks. Because, of course, his front door stood cracked open, a sliver of light seeping in from the hall and into the dark apartment.

His initial thought was that he _could not_ possibly be dealing with a break in right now. After his brain catched up a bit, he realized this probably was not a random house burglary. Mouth suddenly completely dry, Taekwoon slowly crept closer to the door, careful to be as silent as possible. Reaching a slightly shaky hand to push open the door, he seriously considered running away screaming for help. Gathering his courage and refusing to be scared away from his own house, Taekwoon slipped inside. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as everything stood just like how Taekwoon remembered. Grabbing an umbrella from the rack by the door to use as a weapon, he walked further inside, making his way into the living room before stuttering to a halt when he sniffed out the unfamiliar scent of an alpha.

Deciding this had definitely been a bad idea and that he didn’t want to die today, thank you very much, Taekwoon slowly began walking backwards towards the open door. He tightened his grip on the umbrella with his clammy hands and brought it closer to his chest. The crash of multiple picture frames and knick knacks smashing into the ground forced a scream from him and it was all he registered as a dark figure charged out of his room, knocking over his furniture and dashing out the door. Taekwoon rushed after him without hesitating—at this point he blamed his one remaining brain cell for all the admittedly stupid decisions he was making.

He managed to catch a glimpse of the guy slipping through the fire exit stairs and followed him as fast as he could. He took two steps at a time and thanked his long legs for finally coming through for him. The distance between them was still considerably long and the guy seemed to be a floor ahead of him, both of their heavy panting and rapid footsteps echoing loudly through the long staircase. Taekwoon briefly cursed the fact that he lived on the sixth floor as sweat gathered on his forehead and back. He heard rather than saw the man burst through the exit and panicked, not wanting to lose him yet unable to really pick up any more speed.

Just as Taekwoon ran outside, he knew the guy had at least a two minutes head start on him and, based on the empty street in front of him and the fast speed at which the man ran down the stairs, the guy could be blocks ahead of him by now. “Damn it,” he panted, angrily throwing his umbrella on the ground and placing both hands on his hips, pacing back and forth anxiously. There was no good reason why he had suddenly become so invested in catching the guy, he just knew in his gut that this was probably the same person he’d seen at the hospital and if he was right, the guy probably came to finish the job with him as well.

Maybe he should have agreed to stay another night at Wonsik’s.

Either the man was an Olympics track runner or he was hiding somewhere near because there was no way he could have just disappeared like that. Deciding to have one good look around the perimeter of the building, Taekwoon searched for any glimpse of the man. He made a whole round around the building but ultimately came up blank, not a single sign or sighting of anyone at all. Turning around to make his way back to his apartment, Taekwoon bent down to pick up his umbrella when he noticed a piece of paper on the ground a couple of steps away. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a piece of paper laying over a photograph as well.

His photograph.

Shocked, Taekwoon snatched both items and brought them closer to his face. He immediately recognized the picture as the one he kept onto his bedside drawer, the one of his 25th birthday with Jaehwan and Wonsik wearing party hats and smearing cake icing on his face. Looking over the crumbled piece of paper, he saw his address written on one side and a series of letters and numbers scrawled on the other. Bringing the paper up to his nose, Taekwoon caught the scent of something earthy and musky with a hint of something like citrus, like a grapefruit. Strong and definitely screaming of an alpha, Taekwoon shoved both items into his pocket, glancing around fearfully before running inside.

Making his way as fast as possible to his apartment, he almost missed the welcome doormat outside the apartment across from his that had definitely not been there three days ago. Sparing it one questioning glance, Taekwoon went inside and instantly locked all doors and windows before examining the damage. Broken picture frames laid on the floor as well as some shattered glass decorations that could easily be replaced. Walking inside his room, nothing seemed out of the ordinary right away. The scent of citrus and fresh herbs hung faintly in the air, but besides the missing photograph nothing seemed out of place.

Sighing, Taekwoon threw his jacket on the bed and flopped onto the mattress. Those letters and numbers at the back of the paper definitely had to be a code of some sort, but why? Someone had definitely come after him and whatever they wanted could have been written on that piece of paper. Was it a message that he wanted Taekwoon to see? Shaking his head, he dismissed the idea. Whoever that was dropped the evidence on accident and probably did not intend for him to see it at all. But why steal the picture?

The guy who attacked him three days ago and the guy he saw at the hospital and broke into his apartment were definitely two different people, there was no doubt about it. Taekwoon just couldn’t figure out how they were connected.

Dragging himself to the bathroom, he turned on the lights to find a sticky note stuck on the mirror above the sink. All the air was knocked out of his lungs as he ripped the note off the mirror and read:

_Forget what happened and forget what you saw. Don’t go digging for more information or soon you’ll be digging your own grave._

 

—

 

“Why didn’t you call the cops the second you saw someone had broken into your apartment?” Jaehwan asked incredulously, staring down at Taekwoon where he sat on the sofa, looking up at him like a kicked puppy.

“I already told you I don’t know what I was thinking! But either way I never would have found that picture or that message if I hadn’t,” Taekwoon replied, exasperated. He chanced a glanced at Wonsik, hoping he’d back him up. Wonsik only stared back at him disapprovingly. Taekwoon groaned, it felt like a family meeting with Jaehwan and Wonsik as his parents and Taekwoon as the reckless teen getting grounded.

“Still,” Wonsik spoke up from next to him, “you should have at least called us. Who knows what that person could have done. What if he felt like—”

“But he _didn’t_ ,” Taekwoon exclaimed, putting his head on his hands, “I’m ok right now, but I might not be later. I have no idea what any of this means!”

“Oh, I have an idea, alright,” Jaehwan scoffed, finally taking a seat on the recliner in front of Taekwoon. “It means that someone wants to seriously hurt you. This person obviously thinks that you know more than you actually do, and is letting you know he won’t hesitate to shut you up.” He sighed, leaning forward on his seat and grabbing both of Taekwoon’s hands in his over the coffee table, “I mean, they broke into your house hyung! I think we should have called the cops the second—”

“Wait,” Wonsik interrupted, sitting up as well, “I mean, I’m the one who told Taekwoon about the culprits, it doesn’t make sense that this person would go after him just because he knows something the general public doesn’t right now.

I mean, no one is going after you and I,” Wonsik pointed out, motioning between himself and Jaehwan. Taekwoon turned to look at him again. “I don’t think the person I saw attacking the girl is the same person who broke into my house,” Taekwoon confessed, wincing when the both of them started attacking him with questions.

“What do you mean he’s not the same person?”

“There’s more than one person?”

“Guys!” Taekwoon yelled, trying to shut them down before they got even more worked up. “The guy who attacked me literally had no scent, I told you guys it was crazy,” he began, turning to look at them both, “but last night, the guy left a scent. It’s on the note and it lingered a bit in my room as well.”

“Well, why didn’t you start there,” Jaehwan cried in disbelief, slapping both hands on his thighs and collapsing back onto the couch. “Now there’s _two_ people after your blood,” he uttered with a shake of his head.  “A scent?” Wonsik asked, eyebrows furrowing in concern, “so you _don’t_ think it’s another one of those super-alpha wolves, do you?”

Taekwoon quickly got up to get the note from his bedside drawer. Nothing made sense but he knew he had to get to the bottom of it, one way or another. “I’m not sure,” he replied, handing Jaehwan the note, “but he was different. The other alpha seemed completely wild, like he honestly _was_ a feral animal. The one from last night seemed more, I don’t know, human?”

“We seriously need to come up with names to call them if there’s more than one guy, my head is getting everything confused,” Jaehwan muttered, turning the piece of paper over and over in his hands skeptically, “I vote we call them ‘alpha number one’ and ‘alpha number two’.”

“Let me see that,” Wonsik said, snatching the piece of paper and giving it a subtle sniff. “Oh yeah,” he concluded, face hardening into a scowl, “it’s definitely an alpha. But what’s with the code?”

Taekwoon sat down next to him and sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. “I think maybe he was trying to give me another message, but it doesn’t make sense.” Wonsik stared at the piece of paper, as if the answer would magically appear if he glared long and hard enough. Jaehwan bit his lip, suddenly standing up. “I need caffeine,” he declared, heading towards the kitchen, “it’s too early in the morning to try and play detective. Coffee, anyone?”

Taekwoon hummed in agreement, getting to his feet to help when Wonsik suddenly spoke up, making both Jaehwan and Taekwoon jump in surprise. “What if this was a message for the killer instead of for Taekwoon?” He ventured, raising both eyebrows in question.

“I’m confused, a message for alpha number one or alpha number two?” Jaehwan asked, one hand leaning on his hip as he frowned in confusion. “A message _from_ alpha number one _to_ alpha number two,” Wonsik answered, drawing out every word as the meaning of his implications settled heavily on Taekwoon.

“You think the alpha who attacked me sent a coded message to another alpha to threaten me to stop inferring about him?” Taekwoon drawled, eyes wide with disbelief.

“I thought we were talking about a rogue wolf foaming at the mouth with scrambled eggs for a brain, not some mastermind cooking up evil plans and making unbreakable codes,” Jaehwan sniggered, continuing his way into the kitchen. Wonsik flushed a bit and stared down at his hands, mumbling, “It kind of makes sense. There’s Taekwoon’s address written on one side and a message on the other, it screams ‘go there and do this.’ Who else—”

Taekwoon sat back down and tried to think. The message was definitely not for him, but if it was for the other alpha… “Maybe you’re right,” he said grabbing onto Wonsik’s forearm as he gathered his thoughts. “But maybe it wasn’t alpha number 1 who sent him,” he breathed in deeply as things clicked in his head, “but someone else whose life would be negatively affected if word got out that a cult had been raising killer alphas as well as violating multiple omega rights without any police intervention.”

Wonsik’s jaw fell slack in shock as he abruptly sat up from the couch. “You think my dad sent someone to kill you?” he whisper yelled, trying to yank his arm from Taekwoon’s grasp. Taekwoon held on tight to his sleeve as he tried to explain himself.

“Maybe not kill me,” he persisted, hoping he was right about this and not just uselessly tainting Wonsik’s dad’s name, “but definitely to scare me into shutting up about what happened and what I saw. It’s not like I’m high up on the murder list on anybody’s political agenda.”

Jaehwan walked back into the room, two cups of instant coffee in his hands. “It might not even be Wonsik’s dad who did this,” he mused, setting the cups down on the coffee table, “it could be any of the government lackeys trying to cover it up without his knowledge or something.” He paused, frowning as he glanced at them in turn. “But why only Taekwoon? It makes sense Wonsik wouldn’t get hurt, he’s the mayor’s son, but I also knew about it.”

“Does anyone know what happened to the other surviving victim? What if she’s getting messages as well?” Wonsik asked, real concern and a little bit of hurt flashing in his eyes. Taekwoon knew it must be hard dealing with sudden accusations against his dad, and leaned his shoulder against Wonsik’s in a sign of comfort.

“She’s probably still in the hospital,” he guessed, glancing at the clock hanging above the TV, “we can go visit her. Ask her how she’s been and maybe—” Taekwoon veered off, unsure of what exactly they would do once they go there. He doubted just walking into her room and straight up asking her if she was being threatened would get them anywhere with no questions asked.

“It just might work,” Jaehwan shrugged, “we can investigate and get a good look at the vicinity if nothing else.”

They all got up to grab their things before heading out, Taekwoon being the last one and making sure to lock the door. As they all crowded into the hall, the elevator opened to a young man stepping out—head bent down wearing a hoodie one size too big—walking towards the apartment across from Taekwoon’s. The man lifted his head and his eyes landed on Taekwoon’s, locking them in an intense staring match for a few seconds, that felt like minutes, before Taekwoon ultimately looked away

“Hey, I recently moved into this apartment,” he said with a smile, pointing to his door and glancing at Wonsik and Jaehwan in turn, “I’m guessing I’m your new neighbor.” Jaehwan turned to subtly wiggle his eyebrows at Taekwoon before turning back to face the man. “Oh no, we were just visiting a friend,” he said, linking his arm through Wonsik’s and signaling to Taekwoon with his thumb, “this is his apartment.”

Taekwoon felt completely uncomfortable as the man’s gaze fell back on him, practically burning a hole on the side of his face. “The name’s Sanghyuk,” the guy said, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and shuffling his feet in the most boyish and sheepish way Taekwoon had ever seen. “Taekwoon,” he replied, trying to subtly usher his friends to the elevator. This meeting was pretty awkward and there was nothing Taekwoon sucked at more than meeting new people. It’s why he only really had Jaehwan and Wonsik as his closest friends.

Sanghyuk seemed to get the hint and nodded in acknowledgement, waving at Jaehwan and Wonsik one last time before awkwardly shuffling into his apartment.

“He’s pretty cute,” Jaehwan commented as soon as they got inside the elevator, “I didn’t know you had a handsome new neighbor.”

“Me neither,” Taekwoon mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Wonsik snorted and leaned back against the wall as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t like the way he looked at you,” Wonsik said for the first time since they left the apartment. His eyebrows were furrowing again and Taekwoon could not hold back rolling his eye as Jaehwan huffed loudly next to him as well.

“Oh, calm down you big bad alpha,” he joked, throwing a knowing glance at Taekwoon, “we all know how territorial you get—”

“I do _not_ get territorial! The guy looked like he wanted to peer into his deep dark soul and don’t think I missed how he ran his eyes all over—”

Taekwoon slapped Wonsik upside the head and argued that “No, he did not!” Although he was glad to know he hadn’t imagined that whole intense staring thing go down.

“Let’s just go,” Taekwoon said, stepping out of the elevator and rushing to the door ahead of them. “Aw, is little Taekwoonie blushing?” Jaehwan cooed, making both Wonsik and Taekwoon groan in disgust.

 

—

 

As they walked into the hospital, Taekwoon seriously questioned what they were thinking when they agreed that this was a good idea. No wonder he always made bad decisions, he always hung out with these guys.

“What if they ask why we’re visiting her? We’re not her family or anything, they’ll immediately be onto us,” Taekwoon said quietly as he huddled closer to Jaehwan and Wonsik, glancing at the nurses at the front desk. He also looked towards the waiting area and became even more anxious to see a handful of reporters sitting around and typing on their laptops. They should have known there would still be journalists trying to get every detail out of the only known surviving victim of what the press had begun calling the ‘Seoul Ripper.’ Taekwoon wondered how proud whoever came up with that name felt right now and mentally facepalmed at the thought of it.

“Relax,” Jaehwan murmured under his breath, “we’ll say we’re her close friends and if it comes down to it, we’ll have Wonsik here keep the nurse company while we sneak into her room.” Wonsik only had the chance to gape at him before they reached the front desk, Jaehwan stepping up in front of them and flashing the nurse behind the counter the most innocent and charming smile he could manage.

“Excuse me, we’re here to visit Park Jihyo. Could you please tell us what room she’s in?” He said, and Taekwoon stared completely impressed as the nurse merely looked them down, checked her computer, and said “Fourth floor, room 357.”

Wonsik and Taekwoon shared a look of silent respect behind Jaehwan’s back as he kindly thanked the woman and lead them to the elevators. “I didn’t think that would actually work,” Wonsik whispered, getting in and pressing the fourth floor button.

“Well I, for one, had complete confidence in the plan,” Jaehwan uttered with a humph, stepping up front and turning to face them. “We need another game plan though. I say we stay behind and let Taekwoon do all the talking,” he said decisively with a firm nod of his head.

Taekwoon wanted to argue completely against that plan, he was the least qualified out of the three of them to do any talking to anyone. But he had been the one to save her from the attack, so maybe she wouldn’t think it was too odd for him to visit and check up on her. The elevator doors opened with a ding and they hurried to locate the room, anxiousness causing his palms to sweat a bit and Taekwoon tried to rub his hands discreetly on his jeans.

“Alright,” Wonsik started, stopping outside room 357, “we’ll wait out here for a bit while you try to get information out of her, but be quick.”

Breathing in deeply, Taekwoon knocked quietly before turning the doorknob and stepping into the room. It was a private room, the window curtains were opened to let in the morning sun, the room containing a handful of gift baskets and plush toys. Jihyo laid sleeping on the bed, her face considerably less swollen and with fading bruises, her head held in place by a neck brace. Taekwoon stood at the foot of her bed, unsure of what to do and regretting not having gotten her at least some flowers or a ‘get well’ card. He pulled up a chair by her bedside, settling down and deciding to wait a few minutes for her to wake up before he roused her from her sleep.

However, as soon as he sat down, Jihyo’s eyes fluttered opened, widening in surprise as they settled on Taekwoon. “Hi,” Taekwoon rushed out, a hand automatically going up to rub at the back of his neck, “I’m Jung Taekwoon, I just wanted to—”

“Jung Taekwoon?” she repeated in a rough and husky voice. Taekwoon nodded slowly, wondering how she somehow knew of him since he had refused to talk to the press and asked to remain anonymous when information about his police report was released. As if reading his mind, Jihyo said, “When the police questioned me about what happened they said someone had gotten between that man and I and took his attention away from me. I begged them to let me know who had saved me but they refused to tell me to protect the person’s anonymity.

Eventually,” she continued, clearing her throat a couple of times, “I persisted enough and they told me a man named Jung Taekwoon had saved me. I hope you don’t mind that they told me.” Taekwoon shook his head, glad that at least that took off the pressure of having to explain why he was there. He passed her the glass of water left on her bedside table and she smiled in thanks, sitting up to take a sip.

“I just wanted to check up on you, make sure you’re recovering alright,” Taekwoon began hesitantly, looking up to meet her eyes, “I know it’s kind of random for me to visit you but—”

“I’m actually really glad you came,” Jihyo said, meeting his eyes and playing with the glass of water in her hands, “I really wanted to thank you for what you did that night and I was really unsure if I’d ever find you otherwise.”

Taekwoon opened his mouth to protest since he hadn’t done much of anything really, just potentially set a murderer on his trail. “You don’t have to thank me,” he said softly, pulling at his long sleeves until they covered both of his hands, “I was just at the right place at the right time to prevent something worse from happening..”

Jihyo frowned as she intently focused on him, disagreement written all over her face. “I might not even be here if you hadn’t done what you did to stop him,” she insisted, and Taekwoon immediately softened.

Jihyo had big brown eyes that heightened all the emotions that played out on her face. Despite the many bruises covering most of her face and her hair that hung limply on her shoulders, Taekwoon could tell Jihyo was actually a very pretty person. She radiated a shy yet kind personality and he found it hard to argue against her.

“Actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you about that night,” Taekwoon began, licking his lips nervously. Jihyo didn’t react much to this so he took it as a sign to continue. “Do you remember everything about that night? About who attacked you?”

Jihyo’s eyes narrowed in question. “I remember one minute I was walking home from a friend’s house and the next I was being dragged off to an alley to be beaten almost within an inch of my life by some man,” she trailed off, fingers tightening around the glass, “I told the police everything that happened before I blacked out.”

Taekwoon braced himself as he asked, “what about the attacker? Did you see his face?”

Confusion flashed across her face before her facial expressions hardened. “No,” she answered in a clipped tone. Taekwoon was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude and instantly knew she was lying.

Literally five minutes into their meeting and he was already losing her. “It’s just that the police asked me to recall his face but my mind is hazy on the details,” he said, hoping to make her lower her guard. It was a fat chance as she simply hummed in response and pursed her lips.

“It was pretty crazy,” he tried again nonchalantly and pretended to chuckle, “when he charged at me he looked like a red eyed demon.”

There was no missing the way Jihyo’s body tensed up momentarily as Taekwoon locked eyes with her. She took a deep breath but before she could say anything a nurse walked into the room, letting them know that it was time for her to go get some sort of scan. Taekwoon swallowed the urge to tell the nurse to give them five more minutes and reluctantly stood by awkwardly as Jihyo was placed on a wheelchair before turning to look at him.

“I really would like to thank you properly,” Jihyo said forcing a smile but shooting him a meaningful look, “if you wouldn’t mind, could you please leave your number so I could contact you again?”

Taekwoon quickly nodded and waved a bit as the nurse rolled her out of the room. Even if he wasn’t able to get much out of her today, there was no doubt in his mind that Jihyo probably saw what he saw and had also decided to keep that information to herself. He just had to figure out if what they saw somehow tied them to this new person.

Glancing around the room for something to write on as well as a pen, Taekwoon went to tear a small piece of paper from a gift basket laying by the window. As he turned around to look for a pen, he accidentally knocked over the basket with his elbow and winced as a teddy bear, flowers, and colorful rice paper tumbled to the floor. Crouching down to pick it up and cursing his clumsiness, he gasped and hastily pulled back his arm as a sharp pain registered on his fingers.

Completely shocked, Taekwoon stared as small cuts began to swell up with blood on most of his fingers. He bundled up the decorative paper only to discover that pieces of broken _glass_ had scattered and fallen from the basket. He panicked, thinking about having to explain himself and replacing whatever glass piece he’d broken before slowly realizing the broken pieces seemed completely random and as if they’d come from a window or something. They had probably been hidden at the bottom of the basket and around the teddy bear between the decorative paper. He didn’t know if Jihyo had many enemies or not, but what were the odds that someone would send her something so threatening and dangerous to her hospital room.

“We saw Jihyo being taken out of the—” Wonsik stopped as he walked through the door, Jaehwan in tow, and saw Taekwoon kneeling by the window, broken glass and flowers spread all around him.

“Oh my God Taekwoon, did you break her gift?” Jaehwan whisper yelled as he hurried to his side, looking over the mess. Wonsik quickly joined him and crouched down to help clean up the mess.

“Wait!” Taekwoon shouted, raising up his hands and showing them his slightly bloody fingers. “I didn’t break anything. I accidentally knocked the basket to the ground and a bunch of broken glass pieces fell out.”

Wonsik and Jaehwan stared incredulously at each other before helping Taekwoom get back on his feet. “Why would her gift basket be filled with broken glass?” Wonsik asked, bending down to carefully gather the pieces with some of the paper as Taekwoon brought the trash bin closer to him.

“That’s what I’m wondering,” he replied, checking the drawers by the bed for any bandaids, “I don’t want to assume anything, but don’t you think maybe—”

“Oh, it’s exactly what you’re thinking,” Jaehwan murmured, looking down at a small rectangular piece of paper with wide eyes. He lifted his head to gape at them and they rushed to glance at the card that had also fallen out of the basket.

_Forget what happened and forget what you saw. Keep your mouth shut or next time you won’t get so lucky._

It was like a bucket of ice had been dumped on him as Taekwoon stared at the letter, faintly registering the shocked cursing coming from Wonsik.

“I knew it,” Jaehwan exhaled anxiously, handing Taekwoon the card and wringing his hands nervously while pacing the room, “I knew we should have called the cops back when we were at Taekwoon’s house and he told us about the first note. There’s a second note and it came with a bunch of sharp pieces of glass. Can we fucking call the cops now?”

“Calm down,” Wonsik said, glancing worriedly at the closed door, “I don’t think calling the cops now would be a good idea.”

Taekwoon snorted and turned to glare at him. “We have two notes threatening to kill both Jihyo and I and you don’t think it’s about time I informed the police?” he scoffed in disbelief.

“I think that both of those notes now have all of our fingerprints all over them and an almost nonexistent trace from another wolf now,” Wonsik snapped, turning to glare at him as well, “we don’t even know if Jihyo saw it or if the cops won’t think we made this up for publicity or something.”

Jaehwan whined in distress behind him, his scent changing to match his mood as Taekwoon silently considered this. Wonsik was right, but regardless there was a strong possibility someone might get hurt if they didn’t do something.

“Did she tell you anything?” Jaehwan asked, trying to fix up the gift basket to appear as if it hadn’t been knocked over.

“No,” Taekwoon replied, watching as Wonsik finished cleaning up the last of the glass. “Do I take the note with me?” he asked him, figuring if they left the note and Jihyo did tell the cops it would be traced back to them now.

“Let’s just get out of here before she gets back and catches all of us here,” Wonsik sighed as he took the note from him and shoved it in his pocket. Jaehwan quickly made for the door with Wonsik following after him. Taekwoon lingered behind as he ripped another piece of paper and wrote down his phone number and name with a pen he found in the bedside drawer. He placed it by the glass of water she’d been drinking earlier and hoped she called. He had a feeling they had a lot to say to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not beta'd, all mistakes are mine since I rarely ever proofread yikes
> 
> thank you to everyone reading and commenting, it means a lot <3


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